They were fighting in silence now.... All had passed so quickly that it was still scarce more than seconds since Brander dropped into the fo'c's'le. Their bodies thumped the planking resonantly; they struggled in a fashion that shook the ship. They were gasping and choking for breath.... Some one screamed terribly in Brander's very ear, and a hand that was gripping his neck relaxed and fell away. The bodies of the fighting men were for an instant still; and in that instant's silence, some one asked: "You all right, Mr. Brander?" Brander knew the voice. Mauger's. He said: "Yes...." Mauger squirmed out from under Brander.... "What hit Slatter?" he asked sharply. "Did you get him?..." Brander got up, and the body of Slatter fell away from him limply. It was about that time that Dan'l reached the fo'c's'le scuttle above, and looked down into the darkness. He saw nothing; and he called: "Mr. Brander?" Brander said quietly: "Yes, sir, all right." "What's wrong, here?" "Slatter tried to knife me," said Brander. "Have you got him?" "I don't know. He's still. Strike a light, if you please...." Dan'l was already half way down the ladder; but even before his sulphur match scratched, Brander's nostrils told him what had happened. They brought him a smell.... Unmistakable.... Appalling.... The smell of blood.... He was on his knees beside Slatter's body when Dan'l bent over him with the flickering match. They saw Slatter doubled forward over his own legs, and Brander explained swiftly: "I had a full-Nelson.... I was forcing him over that way when he yelled...." He lifted Slatter's body; and they saw the hilt of a knife that was stuck downward, deep into his right thigh. Dan'l cried: "You've killed him." And one-eyed Mauger interrupted loyally: "No, he didn't. Didn't...." Dan'l looked at the one-eyed man. "How do you know?" "I did. I stuck the knife in him...." Brander looked at Mauger, and he touched the little man's shoulder. "You're a liar, little friend," he said, and smiled. And he turned to Dan'l. "I bit the knife out of his hand," he said. "Out of Slatter's.... It fell against my chest and slid down.... It must have dropped between his body and his legs, and his own body, bending forward, drove it in." Dan'l smiled unpleasantly. "All right; but Mauger says he did it." Brander shook his head. "He didn't. For a good reason. He was flat on the floor, and I was kneeling on his back, between him and Slatter, when Slatter yelled and quit fighting...." Dan'l groped for the whale-oil lamp and lighted it and bent to look at the knife. "How did it kill him, there?" he demanded. "Struck the big thigh artery," said Brander. "It must have...." Then Noll Wing's voice came to them from the scuttle. "What's wrong, below?" And his big bulk slid down the ladder.... * * * * *